SERVICE EMPHASIS WEEK 2013



Romans 15: 1-13
 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! 

One of my favorite weeks at HOPAC is service emphasis week.  The secondary school shuts down for a few days and sends students out all over Tanzania to serve.  I had the opportunity this year to go with a group of 11th and 12th grade students along with Mr. Mendo to Dodoma, Tanzania.  In Dodoma we worked with the Safina Street kids project.  This ministry provides a place for street kids to come each afternoon for a devotional time and a meal.  They also have two houses that they are able to place some children in to get them off the street.  The one house is up and running, but the other one is still being built.  The first few days we were there we had the opportunity to just hang out with the kids.  We played a soccer game against them on Saturday and then on Sunday they came to the place we were staying for lunch and a movie.  Monday and Tuesday were manual labor days as we went to work leveling out some piles of dirt for the soccer field where the two houses are, and digging a hole for a sewage system for the house that is still being built.  It is always fun to get out of the classroom setting with students and have the opportunity to serve alongside of them. 

Here is a video to give you an idea of what our week looked like :)